Saturday, April 14, 2012

Why Do Extremists Want To Control Women?

The 2012 election was supposed to be about jobs and the economy and, though that will still be central, the Republican Party has returned to its base "culture war" issues. Proposition 8! Birth control! Susan G. Komen! and Planned Parenthood!


Hillary Clinton on Women's Rights

Republican candidates at both the state and federal government levels, including presumed Republican Presidential Nominee George Romney, say they will "get rid of" Planned Parenthood, an organization provides health care for millions of women, including preventive services like cancer screenings.

On March 14, 2012 Texas Governor Rick Perry cut off access to affordable health care for low-income women in Texas.

Even as more than one-quarter of Texas women are uninsured, and women in Texas have the third highest rate of cervical cancer in the country, Governor Perry was determined to make a bad situation worse for women in the state of Texas by cutting funding for the Medicaid Women’s Health Program. With Gov.

With Rick Perry leading Texas Republicans in the 2011 Texas legislature in the war on women, cut funding for family planning clinics by two-thirds. When the Texas Tribune asked Texas state Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Nacogdoches), a supporter of the family planning cuts, if this was a war on birth control, he said: “Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything.”

Click to go to videos of President of Planned Parenthood of America Cecile Richards discussing health care funding cuts in her home state of Texas.

Mitt Romney, the presumed 2012 GOP presidential nominee, and Republican candidates at both the federal government level and in all 50 states have also committed to a "personhood" constitutional amendment that would outlaw most common contraceptive choices available to women.
Mother Jones reports that Republicans in the U.S. Congress also want to pass a federal Personhood Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Some Texas culture warrior Republicans want to push a "personhood" amendment of the Texas Constitution in the 2013 Texas Legislative Session.
Such amendments to U.S. and State Constitutions would effectively reverse the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court finding that Americans have a fundamental "right of privacy" that includes the private choice to learn about and use birth control.

While the GOP's culture warriors are winning points with the GOP's hard right cultural conservatives, they may be turning off the rest of the American electorate - including other Republican voters. A poll recently released by a conservative publication found that a large number of Republicans and conservatives are likely to vote for President Barack Obama.

The survey, conducted by Wenzel Strategies for World Net Daily, showed that one in five Republicans are leaning towards or would “definitely” re-elect President Obama.

Romney: A Severely Conservative Nominee!

The Obama campaign is out with a new video today that mashes up several remarks Romney made during the primary that could be potentially damaging to the Republican candidate in a general election.

The two-minute web spot starts with Romney's "corporations are people" comment, and features a number of other classic Romneyisms, including "I like being able to fire people," "let Detroit go bankrupt," and "I was a severely conservative Governor." The video also highlights Romney's positions on abortion, Planned Parenthood, immigration, the housing crisis, and the war in Iraq.

It ends with the tagline: "Romney: A severely conservative nominee. Remember that."

A Severely Conservative Or A Progressive Budget

Last week, the House passed the Wisconsin Republican's $3.5 trillion budget plan, complete with measures to switch Medicare to a private system, slash more than $700 billion from Medicaid, and cut programs such as food stamps.


In a Budget Committee Hearing on Tuesday, July 12, 2011, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz asked Judy Feder of Georgetown University whether the Ryan/Republican Medicare plan to convert Medicare into a voucher program would cover the costs of seniors' health care. The answer was no.
Republican candidates at both the state and federal government levels, including Republican Presidential Nominee George Romney, say they will convert Medicare into a private insurance voucher program.

That voucher program would end Medicare as we know it. The real benefit of a voucher program? It would drive profits for insurance companies by forcing seniors to purchase private insurance, paying whatever costs a voucher wouldn't cover out of their own limited budgets.

Medicare has opened doors to necessary care for generations for seniors and individuals with permanent disabilities. The Ryan budget, adopted by the House of Representatives, would end five decades of Medicare's guaranteed access to modern medicine and give millionaires a staggering $265,000 apiece in a new tax cut.

The GOP intends to cast its budget plan as proof that Republicans are willing to make the tough choices to get the federal deficit under control. Democrats will argue that the GOP only wants to make tough choices for the elderly and poor.


Congressional Progressive Caucus Budget Plan

"The Republican members of Congress who lined up to vote for the Ryan-Romney budget are calling themselves 'courageous' –- they're admiring each other for the 'tough,' 'serious,' 'bold,' 'fiscally responsible' decisions they’ve made for the 'good of the country,'" said Tom McMahon, the head of Americans United. "But can anyone tell me what is 'courageous' about forcing seniors in nursing homes on Medicaid to find somewhere else to go or taking away health care from sick kids, but continuing to hand over $40 billion worth of subsidies to the big oil companies?"

Don't like the Ryan Budget? The Congressional Progressive Caucus has a "Budget for All" that:
"puts Americans back to work, charts a path to responsible deficit reduction, enhances our economic competitiveness, rebuilds the middle class and invests in our future." This budget "makes no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits, and asks those who have benefited most from our economy to pay a sensible share."
Budget of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Fiscal Year 2012

The People’s Budget eliminates the deficit in 10 years, puts Americans back to work and restores our economic competitiveness. The People’s Budget recognizes that in order to compete, our nation needs every American to be productive, and in order to be productive we need to raise our skills to meet modern needs.

Our Budget Eliminates the Deficit and Raises a $31 Billion Surplus In 10 Years
Our budget protects Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and responsibly eliminates the deficit by targeting its main drivers: the Bush Tax Cuts, the wars overseas, and the causes and effects of the recent recession.

Our Budget Puts America Back to Work & Restores America’s Competitiveness

  • Trains teachers and restores schools; rebuilds roads and bridges and ensures that users help pay for them
  • Invests in job creation, clean energy and broadband infrastructure, housing and R&D programs

Our Budget Creates a Fairer Tax System

  • Ends the recently passed upper-income tax cuts and lets Bush-era tax cuts expire at the end of 2012
  • Extends tax credits for the middle class, families, and students
  • Creates new tax brackets that range from 45% starting at $1 million to 49% for $1 billion or more
  • Implements a progressive estate tax
  • Eliminates corporate welfare for oil, gas, and coal companies; closes loopholes for multinational corporations
  • Enacts a financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax on derivatives and foreign exchange

Our Budget Protects Health

  • Enacts a health care public option and negotiates prescription payments with pharmaceutical companies
  • Prevents any cuts to Medicare physician payments for a decade

Our Budget Safeguards Social Security for the Next 75 Years

  • Eliminates the individual Social Security payroll cap to make sure upper income earners pay their fair share
  • Increases benefits based on higher contributions on the employee side
Our Budget Brings Our Troops Home
  • Responsibly ends our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to leave America more secure both home and abroad
  • Cuts defense spending by reducing conventional forces, procurement, and costly R&D programs
Our Budget’s Bottom Line
  • Deficit reduction of $5.6 trillion
  • Spending cuts of $1.7 trillion
  • Revenue increase of $3.9 trillion
  • Public investment $1.7 trillion
Complete Details
Martin Sheen in a new video from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee asking Americans to stand against plans to "end Medicare." Sheen, perhaps best known for his role as President Josiah Bartlet on "The West Wing," talked of his American ideals in the video.
"It's time to speak out, tell Republicans in Congress that Americans work their whole lives and kept their commitments. We expect Republicans to do the same," Sheen said. "Tell them to keep their hands off Medicare and tell them in our America, the cynics and fear mongers, the ones who break a sacred promise simply to reward the wealthy don't get the final word. No, no, you do."

Friday, April 6, 2012

Pres. Obama Speaks at the Associated Press Luncheon

President Obama discusses the fundamental issues at stake for our Nation, and how we can restore a sense of security for people who are willing to work hard and act responsibly in this country. April 3, 2012.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Progressive Vs Conservative

Democratic Party Of Collin Co. Chair Candidate Debate 4/30

The TDWCC has organized a debate between the candidates for Democratic Party of Collin Co. Chair for Monday, April 30, 2012 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. This event is cosponsored by TDWCC along with CCGLA, Drinking Liberally – Plano, Muslim Caucus – Collin County, the Texas Democratic Men’s Club, and the Allen Democrats.

John LingenfelderJohn Lingenfelder

Shawn Stevens
Shawn Stevens

Please attend this debate so you can make an informed decision on which county chair candidate, incumbent Shawn Stevens or 2010 Congressional Candidate John Lingenfelder, might best extend the Democratic Party into the community by cooperating with other Democratic organizations to broaden and diversify the base of Democratic voters and activists in the County.

You can submit debate questions for the candidates and RSVP by emailing to gotv@tdwcc.org. Questions are due by April 10.

The Texas Democratic Women of Collin County cosponsored debate will be held at the Preston Ridge Campus of Collin College, 9700 Wade Blvd., Frisco, Texas, Founders Hall, Shawnee Room F148. Click for detailed maps.

The County Chair candidate names will appear on the Democratic Party of Collin Co. Primary Election ballot.

Early voting for the Primary Election will begin on Monday May 14, 2012 and continue through Friday May 25, 2012 at the regular Collin County early voting polling locations. Primary Election Day is on Tuesday May 29, 2012 at election precinct polling locations around county.

This blog will publish polling location information after the Democratic Party of Collin Co. Executive Committee approves the proposed precinct polling locations later this month. This blog will also report on the county chair candidate debate and begin a series of articles about the candidates and the Democratic Party of Collin Co. following the debate.

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Progressives Compel Coca-Cola To Pull ALEC Support Over Its Support Of Voter Photo ID Laws

Think Progress

Prompted by a petition campaign by the progressive advocacy group Color of Change, Coca-Cola has pulled its support from ALEC, a right-wing corporate-funded front group which has been pushing voter photo ID laws around the country. The company released this statement moments ago:

The Coca-Cola Company has elected to discontinue its membership with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Our involvement with ALEC was focused on efforts to oppose discriminatory food and beverage taxes, not on issues that have no direct bearing on our business. We have a long-standing policy of only taking positions on issues that impact our Company and industry.

Impressively, Coke’s retreat came just five hours after Color of Change announced its petition, which read: “ALEC has pushed voter [photo] ID laws which disenfranchise large numbers of Black voters. Along with the NRA, ALEC also pushed a bill based on Florida’s ‘shoot first’ law – which has shielded Trayvon Martin’s killer from justice – into two dozen states across the country.”

Just this morning, the Center for American Progress released a report highlighting ALEC’s role in voter suppression:

ALEC charges corporations such as Koch Industries Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and The Coca-Cola Co. a fee and gives them access to members of state legislatures. Under ALEC’s auspices, legislators, corporate representatives, and ALEC officials work together to draft model legislation. As ALEC spokesperson Michael Bowman told NPR, this system is especially effective because “you have legislators who will ask questions much more freely at our meetings because they are not under the eyes of the press, the eyes of the voters.”

American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a heavily conservative organization funded by billionaires such as the Scaife family (Allegheny Foundation and the Scaife Family Foundation), the Coors family (Castle Rock Foundation), Charles Koch (Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation), the Bradley family (The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation) and the Olin family (John M. Olin Foundation) and corporations such as Altria, AT&T, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Koch Industries, Kraft, PhRMA, Wal-Mart, Peabody Energy, and State Farm. Such corporations represent just a fraction of ALEC’s approximately three hundred corporate partners. ALEC writes legislative bills that Republican governors and legislators introduce as their own in state legislatures - sometimes without remember to remove the ALEC identifier from the legislative text.

ALEC’s public safety and elections task force drafted the Voter ID Act in the summer of 2009, which would require “proof of identity” to vote. Those without a valid photo ID must fill out a provisional ballot that is only counted if the voter produces an ID at the county elections office. It also suggests that ID cards be made available free of charge to eligible voters without a valid driver’s license.

A year after the 2008 presidential election, ALEC ramped up its program to push for new voter identification laws in all 50 states. Since 2009, 33 states have introduced some form of photo ID bill, and 14 states have passed laws that now require voters to present a federal- or state-issued photo ID with an expiration date at the polls. The highest percentage of people who do hold one of the limited selection of photo ID's include senior citizens, college students, people with disabilities, people of color, and new Americans - the groups who voted most heavily for Barack Obama in 2008.

More:

Sunday, April 1, 2012

The Gender Gap: Wider Than Ever

The gender gap -- the difference in support for a candidate among women and men -- has long favored Democratic presidential candidates.

Even so, Barack Obama's advantages among women voters over his GOP rivals are striking.

Obama led Mitt Romney by 20 points (58% to 38%) among women voters and Rick Santorum by 26 points (61% to 35%) in the Pew Research Center's most recent national survey, conducted March 7-11. Obama runs about even with Romney among men and leads Santorum.

Just as women have been more likely to vote Democratic in presidential elections, a higher percentage also identifies with or leans toward the Democratic Party. In surveys this year, 52% of women identify with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic, compared with 43% of men.

This figure is in line with the gender gap in party identification dating back to 1990. In 2008, 56% of women and 46% of men identified as Democrats or leaned Democratic. There are several clusters of issues on which men and women divide, including social issues, views of government and its role, energy and the environment, and foreign policy and national security.

Read the full report for a detailed analysis of gender differences in politics.

Democratic Party's Image Improves; GOP Ratings Stay Negative

Pew Research Center

About half (49%) the public now has a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party; 43% have an unfavorable view. The number of people who regard the party favorably increased six points since January.

This represents a significant recovery from an all-time low favorability rating of 38% in April 2010, just after the passage of the health care bill. However, impressions of the Democratic Party are still far lower than they were in January 2009, when Barack Obama took office. At that time, 62% of people viewed the party favorably.

Views of the Republican Party remain negative – just 36% of people have a positive impression of the GOP and over half of people (56%) have an unfavorable view. This figure is little changed from earlier this year and from April 2010, when the party was viewed favorably by just 37% of people.

A majority of women (54%) now have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party (up eight points over the last two months) while 40% have an unfavorable impression.

Women's views of the Republican Party are far more negative -- 38% have a favorable opinion while 56% have an unfavorable one. These opinions are little changed from January.

Throughout the past four years, with the exception of the spring and summer of 2010, women have viewed the Democratic Party more favorably than the GOP.

For the first time since 2009, men hold a more favorable view of the Democratic Party than the Republican Party (44% vs. 35%). Read more

Texas Primaries, Caucuses, Conventions, And Politics

Everything You Ever Thought You Wanted To Know!
Join the Texas Democratic Women of Collin County on Thursday, April 5, 7-9 pm at Collin College – Frisco Campus, 9700 Wade Blvd., Building J, Rm. J113 for an evening of exciting discussion regarding the ever-changing Texas Primary and conventions!
Be A Delegate to the 2012 Collin Co. Democratic Convention at the Plano Centre in Plano, Texas! (map)

Any registered voter who signs an oath of affiliation with the Texas Democratic Party at convention check-in or during the convention may participate. To be a Delegate just check into the convention during registration from 8:00 am to 10:00 am on Saturday April 21 using your Voter Registration Card, Driver's License or other identification used for voting.
  • Learn how the new maps will affect you!
  • Find out how you can become a delegate at the County Convention on April 21st without going to a precinct caucus!
  • Find out about the Primary Election scheduled for May 29th!
The session is free and open to the public – RSVP to events@tdwcc.org.

In normal primary election years the Texas Democratic and Republican Parties conduct their respective Senatorial District or County Conventions three weeks after primary election day and after Election Precinct Conventions, which are normally held during the evening of primary election day.

It's all different this year! This year, drawn out court battles over the new redistricting maps have pushed primary election day from its usual first Tuesday in March date to Tuesday May 29.

Since the Democratic and Republican Parties were already locked into holding their respective state conventions the weekend of June 9 - just over one week after the rescheduled May 29 primary date - they asked the San Antonio three-judge panel to issue an order allowing them to hold their respective SD/County conventions in April, five weeks before the primary election.

This year, the Texas Democratic Party convention and national presidential delegate selection process will skip the preliminary Election Precinct Conventions and begin with County/Senatorial District Conventions on Saturday April 21, 2012. SD/County delegates will be elected to advance to the June 7-9 Texas Democratic Party State Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in in Houston, Tx, where delegates will be elected to advance to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.

This year, any registered voter who signs an oath of affiliation with the Texas Democratic Party at convention check or during the convention may participate in their County/Senatorial District Convention as a delegate. People who sign an oath of affiliation with the Texas Democratic Party -- which they would normally do when voting in the party's primary election -- cannot participate in another political party’s process, or vote in another party's primary election until after December 31, 2013, when the party affiliation cycle resets for the 2014 primary year.

Any person eligible to participate in the delegate selection process may qualify as a candidate for National Convention delegate and alternate by filing a National Delegate Statement of Candidacy form with the Texas Democratic Party State Chair, State Democratic Executive Committee, 505 W. 12th Street, Austin, Texas 78701. Statements of Candidacy must be submitted no earlier than April 16, 2012 and no later than 5:00 p.m. on May 15, 2012 (Rules 12B & 14F).
Often overlooked because it is so early in the process, this form MUST be filed if you have any intention (even if you ultimately decline) to run for National Delegate. This isn't a change cause by redistricting, but it's worth highlighting.
Statements of Candidacy must be submitted on forms approved by the State Democratic Executive Committee and must contain the individual's name, mailing address, residence address, day and night phone numbers, email address, a pledge of support to the Democratic nominee for president, an oath of affiliation with the Democratic Party and a signed pledge of support to the individual's presidential preference (or uncommitted status) or an oath that the individual is currently uncommitted.

Related:
Democratic Party County/Senatorial District Conventions On For April 21